maypole
"maypole" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“maypole” is uncommon English (frequency #72,530 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #72,530
- frequency rank, English
- 36,575
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A pole, garlanded with streamers held by people who dance around it to celebrate May Day.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | maypole |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #72,530 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “maypole” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
maypole is uncommon English at frequency #72,530 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for maypole, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Compound of May + pole, so called in reference to its use on May Day. The correct English form is maypole, spelled M-A-Y-P-O-L-E.
Definition
- 1A pole, garlanded with streamers held by people who dance around it to celebrate May Day.
- 2A very tall girl or young lady.
- 3A maypole-like structure of sticks placed about a sapling in the bowers of certain species of bowerbird.
- 4A penis, especially a large one.
Etymology
Compound of May + pole, so called in reference to its use on May Day.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “maypole”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-Y-P-O-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.